Jumbo black bottom coconut macaroons

Most of the baking recipes I’ve made this season have come off the internet. Sitting at home this weekend, I thought, “hey, why don’t I browse through some of those cookbooks on the shelf?”

One cookbook, “bigfatcookies,” seemed appropriate, so I pulled it down. I’ve made a few recipes out of it through the years, but not this one. Maybe it’s because I’m not a huge coconut fan. But I thought I’d try it out anyway, because I had a coconut chocolate macaroon at the Paso Robles Rotary Winemaker’s Cookoff (which, by the way, is a totally awesome event) a few years ago and it was delicious.

The recipe has a lot of steps, but it’s really not very difficult. Although they tasted really good, I think I personally would go for more of a “normal” sized macaroon. I ended up eating all the chocolate and still had a lot of coconut cookie left over.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and butter the paper.

Make the cookies. In a large bowl, use a fork to stir the coconut, condensed milk, salt, almond extract and vanilla together. Set aside.

In an impeccably clean medium bowl, use a whisk or a hand-held mixer on low speed to beat the egg white with the cream of tartar until they are foamy and the cream of tartar dissolves. Whisking vigorously or beating on medium-high speed, beat until soft peaks form. Whisk or beat in the sugar. Use a rubber spatula to fold half the whipped egg white into the coconut mixture, then fold in the remaining white.

Bake until the bottoms of the cookies and the tips of the coconut shreds are light brown, about 17 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then slide a metal spatula under the macaroons to loosent hem from the parchment and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the chocolate coating. Put the chocolate and oil in a heatproof container or the top of a double boiler and place it over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water (or the bottom of the double boiler). Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the water and let cool and thicken slightly, about 10 minutes.

Scrape the chocolate coating in a small bowl. Dip the bottom of each macaroon in the chocolate and place the cookies, chocolate bottoms up or on their sides, on a wire rack. (You will have some chocolate coating left over for another use. It’s easier to dip using a large amount of coating). Let the macaroons sit at room temperature until the chocolate coating is firm, about 1 hour. Or, to speed the firming of the chocolate, refrigerate the macaroons on the rack for about 15 minutes. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Authors

Join Larissa and Chrissy as they cook their way through the holidays. Professional chefs they are not, but hopefully that just means the recipes they share are easily recreated in your own kitchen. The theme of the blog and types of recipes will change with the time of year. Seasons eatings to you all!

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